An ongoing adventure of travel and living while using a wheelchair. Tim has been disabled from birth. Darryl is his father and caregiver who travels with him.
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Sunday, May 17, 2015

Today is supposed to reach 90 degrees so we'll keep it light with a bottle of wine. This afternoon, we'll be enjoying a 2008 Redwood Vineyards Pinot Noir. Redwood is a Sonoma winery but the grapes are from Lodi and the Sacramento River Delta. Rated 88 points, it has hints of rasberries, cherry, and a nice oak finish. Click on the picture above to see it large and the clarity of this wine.

Not that we've had a lot of Pinot Noir the last year, maybe a half dozen bottles total, but this is the best we've had recently. It's delicious and can be had for around $12. Paul's Wine of the Month Club has it for $6.99 for members.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Fully Accessible - You can access all of the attraction, with no problem, in any type of wheelchair.Mostly Accessible - You can access most of the attraction, and all of the important parts of it, with your wheelchair.Partially Accessible - You can access a good deal of the attraction but some parts are inaccessible and some important parts you'll miss.Inaccessible - Kind of speaks for itself, avoid if you're in a wheelchair.Here's Tucson and Tombstone, Arizona...

OK Corral - Fully Accessible. You won't have any problems navigating this attraction but be advised of two things...the gunfight show is loud and the actual gunfight took place where the highway is today, just outside of the walls of the attraction. Still, a lot of fun. If loud noises bother you, go between shows to avoid it.

Birdcage Theatre - Partially Accessible. You won't be able to access the basement and there are no accessible bathrooms.

Boot Hill - Mostly Accessible. Some of the paths through the cemetary are a bit rough but most wheelchairs will be able to see most of the area.

Friday, May 8, 2015

After spending a day in Tombstone it’s time to see Tucson proper. The weather that had been threatening finally called in its debt and rain started coming down as we got back into the city.

Seems that’s how it goes for us, plan on a sunny getaway and we’ll get cold and rain. Plan a trip to the snow and we’ll get a heat wave.

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In the morning, we have a nice breakfast at the hotel…seriously, they have a great hot breakfast buffet…and make our way to downtown Tucson to see what we can find. It is downright cold this morning.

Pulling into downtown, flakes start to fall. That’s right…it is now snowing in downtown Tucson. In the desert. In Southern Arizona. Just a few miles north of the border. Where lawns don’t exist but Saguaro cacti do.

It looks like our bathing suits are just going to take up space in the luggage for this trip.

We find a spot to park on Congress Street on the east side of the city center. It’s cold and snowy so we duck into the lobby of the beautifully restored Hotel Congress to get all our jackets, mittens, and hats on.

The manager comes up to us. He just wants to point out the accessible routes to all the areas of the lobby and invites us to come in and take as much time as we want to get warm.

That’s how hospitality is done, folks.

It is indeed an inviting place to sit for awhile, have a cup of coffee, and warm up in the tile walled room.

Out back, we cross the street to the old, restored Tucson train station. Here you’ll find Maynard’s Restaurant and Maynard’s market. We wander the aisles of the small store where you’ll find an upscale selection of food, wine, and beer plus some reasonably priced sandwiches and other prepared food to go.

Letty and I get a cup of weak coffee and it’s back out into the cold, cruel world.

Back on Congress Street, we stop at the Chicago Store. It’s a large music store with just about any instrument you’d want to find. It’s also like a musical pawn shop where local musicians can sell their instruments and budding musicians can buy them. I get just a couple of items that I needed for our audio studio back home.

We continue to walk around in the light snow flurry but, although there seems to be a big surge towards restoration of the area, it’s still got a ways to go to be lively.

Back in the van, we head up First Avenue for lunch. Today, it’s at BK Tacos. You might have seen this place on the Food Network or the Travel Channel. The specialty here is the Sonoran hot dog. This starts with a bacon wrapped hot dog…a truly evil and delicious combination…and then piles on beans and salsa. Most people also load up on the shredded cheese from the condiment bar. It’s known as a chili dog on steroids…a pretty apt description.

The dogs are very good. I also have a couple of their good al pastor tacos along with some creamy guacamole and hot sauce from the condiment bar. It’s good enough to order seconds.

Tonight we’re going out on the town. Specifically to a show at the restored Fox Theater on Congress Street back in downtown.

When I was researching this trip, I saw that country singer Mark Chesnutt was going to be in town so we stopped in and bought tickets on arrival. The wheelchair seating is in two boxes on either the left or right side of the orchestra and only 8 rows back from the stage. Their actually very good seats.

At show time, the place is only about a third full so it was far from a sellout. The first act, Mark Connors…a local singer, was not great. The headlining Mark, Mr. Chesnutt, was great and...if you’ll pardon my French for a second...kicked ass.

The partially filled auditorium made up for the lack of bodies with the full-throated cheers and screams at Mr. Chesnutt’s act. Security was tight, though, no pictures other that what we could grab with our phone or download a public domain copy could be had, so I apologize for the lack of photos.

The next day we wind down a bit, go shopping at some of Tucson’s many pawn and thrift shops, and spend the evening reminiscing at the hotel’s happy hour before settling in for one more night.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

There's nobody better in digging out the details of accessible travel than Candy Harrington. Along with husband Charles Pannell, She turns out books on accessible travel at a furious pace (she writes, he takes the pictures).Her latest, Resting Easy In The U.S. looks into a facet of accessible lodging that has always fascinated me...unique, non-cookie cutter accommodations that are wheelchair accessible.Candy excels in the nuts and bolts of travel, uncovering useful details most people would never think of but are essential to mobility challenged tourists. Beyond details like roll-in showers, we get things like how high the edge of the bed is; will there be room for your Hoyer lift and what piece of furniture you might need to move out of the way; can you roll under the kitchen counter; how many (and how high) steps there are that you might need to navigate...this book is a detailer's masterpiece.The them of this tome, of course, is uniqueness. We can go to the Hiltons, Marriotts, and Sheratons all day long and find decent accessible rooms but they're pretty much all the same (I defy anyone to be able to tell one Springhill Suites from another on their travels).

Peabody Hotel Duckmaster and his Charges

Here, each of the 90 plus properties has a spin on it that you won't find anywhere else. Want to go to an early 20th century, summer camp-like lodge on the edge of the Monterey Peninsula? Asilomar will fit that bill. A cushy and luxe hotel where you can walk to Beale Street and get an up-close-and-personal parade of ducks each day? The Peabody in Memphis is the ticket for you. How about a spectacular view room where you can watch the sun play over the beauty of Monument Valley from your room? The View Hotel in Utah is for you.There is an extensive variety of lodgings described here. Quaint bed and breakfasts, national park lodges, housekeeping cabins, yurt tents, and boutique hotels are among those listed here. If you're really adventurous, you can even sleep in an accessible lean-to in an accessible wilderness park in upstate New York.

Candy Harrington

In addition, Candy's attention to details gives you little tips along the way. You might need a roll-in shower, she will tell you if you might want to skip a particular property because it only has tubs or the property in Cambria has a couple of steps into the office but she'll let you know that the owner will come out to your vehicle to check you in so you won't have to negotiate them. Even to the point of letting you know how far you'll need to go and that you'll need to pay for the shower in certain campgrounds.There's a wealth of information here and it covers a good deal of the United States. You'll be sure to find something here to make a great trip. I know I'll be referring to it often.Resting Easy In The US is available at Amazon.com and at restingez.com.DarrylCopyright 2015 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved

Monday, May 4, 2015

Over the years, we’ve been to destinations across Arizona. The Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Prescott, Oatman, Bullhead City and Laughlin, Phoenix , Scottsdale, and Yuma have all seen our van pass through. One glaring section was missing, however, the southeast corner of the state.

It’s midafternoon when we finally pull into our hotel, the Radisson Suites located east of downtown Tucson on Speedway Blvd. We have a true two-room suite with a separate living room and bedroom. The bathroom area is also two rooms, the bathroom itself and a dressing area outside with a closet and a sink.

In the bathroom, there is a bathtub with a shower seat provided by the hotel, a roll-under sink, and a no-step shower. Not quite a roll-in, but you could put the shower seat there and transfer to it in the shower…as long as you’re not too wide. The bedroom has a flat-screen LCD TV while the living room has an older picture tube model.

Outside is a large pool in a lush, landscaped courtyard with a spa and a large firepit for the evening. A restaurant and bar off to the side provide a generous breakfast buffet in the morning, meals throughout the day, and a happy hour at night. The breakfast was included for an extra ten dollars.

After unpacking, we eat our first meal in the city at Rosa’s Mexican Food on Fort Lowell Road. This is Willie Nelson’s favorite place to eat in the city. It’s in the back of a nondescript strip mall and is your usual Mexican restaurant. We start off with mediocre margaritas (made with mix, not from scratch), some really good enchiladas and chile rellenos, and finish off with sopapillas which are fried dough covered with honey and served with whipped cream.

Except for the margaritas, it was all very wonderful and inexpensive.

We take a quick drive over to downtown Tucson, which is in the middle of redevelopment. It looks like a fun place. I stop off at the restored Fox Theater there and pick up some tickets for a concert the next night.

With that done, we get a bottle of wine, some bread, cheese, and settle in for a quiet night in.

Except that it wasn’t that quiet. A large group of kids were in the hotel making a lot of noise late. I slept right through it but Letty and Tim had a rough night. Had I’d known, I would have called hotel security to shut them up.

In the morning, I went in to take a shower. The shower head was set to the widest possible spray and I could barely get any water on me. The water took…and I timed this…9 minutes to warm up. The bathtub shower head was limp and in serious need of Viagra…it just wouldn’t stay up.

After breakfast, we took our concerns to the manager who moved us upstairs to a similar room with working fixtures. We also complained about the noise and did not have any more problems with it during our stay. The water still took 9 minutes to warm up, though.

After eating and moving, we drove out of Tuscon. Along Kolb Road, on our way to the Interstate, we saw hundreds of military planes, sealed up against the elements, stored on the tarmac. This is Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and the planes are part of AMARG – the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group – which maintains over 4,000 aircraft here in readiness and for surplus.

After the planes, we get to Interstate 10 and head east. Our destination, 70 minutes away, is the old historic town of Tombstone, better known as the locale of such wild west sites as OK Corral and Boot Hill.

Once in Tombstone, we drive around the old part of town and have a devil of a time finding parking. We learn that the lot on the other side of Highway 80 designated as OK Corral parking can also be used as a general parking lot for the town and it’s also free so we park there.

Luckily, traffic is not so intense here so crossing the highway is no big concern.

Letty and Tim have been debating through the morning about attending the gunfight at the OK Corral in the afternoon. Tim’s disability has the effect of his eardrums not being able to tense up at loud noises like normal folk so he really dislikes loud, sudden noises. Letty wants to see it and offers to put in earplugs and cover those up with shooter’s headphones. Tim tentatively agrees…we’ll see.

We start off by going to the visitor’s center. While the gentleman there is friendly and lots of brochures are available, he won’t provide us with prices for the various attractions around town. We are told we’ll have to visit each one and ask. I think that’s what a visitor’s center should do but…

Off we go, strolling down the main street, mixing in with cowboys, gunfighters, soiled doves, and more. While some of these people work here in those costumes, it also seems like a lot of the locals just like to dress this way. There is also a contingent of people who also like to come here and play dress up.

Our first stop is to wet our whistle. We go into Big Nose Kate’s Saloon. I have to ask one of the employees to open the second side of the double-door so that Tim can get his wheelchair through. He shows me the trick of pulling on a chain attached to the door that releases it…a little tip that would come in handy time and time again as we visited the various shops in Tombstone.

We belly up to the bar…or roll up to it in Tim’s case…and have a shot of tequila. Letty visits the gift shop, located down a tiny, narrow, spiral iron staircase downstairs and I request some outlaw country songs from the singer while Tim and I sip our shots.

It’s crowded, but it’s a lot of fun and you need to spend a little time in the saloon where Doc Holliday and the Earp’s used to hang out in.

We continue up the street, visit the lobby of the Bird Cage Theater, turn around and stroll slowly back towards the OK Corral at the other end of town.

Along the way we see a little plaque saying that Wyatt Earp’s brother was murdered in the shop we were standing in front of. Of course, we have to go in there and find the spot.

Finally, at the other end of town we arrive at the OK Corral. It’s 12:30pm and the gunfight is at 2. Tim is having none of it and offers to wait in the car during the show. I can’t really let him do that, so the gunfight is scratched from the schedule. It’s $10 dollars to go into the corral and see the gunfight. If you don’t want the gunfight, then it’s only $6 so we opt for the cheaper ticket so we can at least visit it.

Inside, at the site of the real gunfight, there’s an audio show with some rudimentary robots standing in for the Earp’s, Doc Holliday, the Clanton’s, and McLaury’s. The recreated gunfight takes place in an adjacent arena.

We look around, take in some exhibits including a prostitute’s shack, and then visit with the blacksmith who is very friendly and makes a custom horseshoe for Tim.

After that visit, we head back to the other end of town…far away from any gunshots…and have lunch at the Longhorn Steakhouse where we have some very good burgers while waiting for the gunfight to end.

One wonderful thing about Tombstone is that we did not find anything to be inaccessible to wheelchairs. There are basic...very basic...accessible restrooms at each end of town and it's a very easy 3 block stretch from end-to-end.

After lunch, we drive to the north end of town to the little western cemetery there better known as Boot Hill. Here is where the town buried it's dead back in the wild west days. The dead from the OK Corral are buried here, as are numerous criminals who were hanged...some "legally" as their headstones say.

Not to forget, the infamous Lester Moore...you know, "four slugs from a .44. No Les, No More."

The cemetery is mostly wheelchair accessible. It's dirt, so expect so bumpy, rocky paths but for the most part, you'll be able to visit it. It's also free, although a donation is requested.

Friday, May 1, 2015

We're working our way through the American Southwest. This week, it's Yuma as we work our way over into Arizona. Yuma is at the convergence of California, Arizona, and Mexico...

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In the old days, cowboys would come here looking for a good saloon, a bath, and maybe someone to spend the night with. Today, we’re looking for a full breakfast, a big room with a comfortable bed, and a good wifi connection.

Near the western end of town, reminders of the old days sit across the freeway from each other. The Territorial Prison on a bluff looking over the Colorado River held the area's ne'er do wells within its thick, rock walls. Those who were more upstanding…or maybe just lucky at not being caught…would have a cold beer while playing cards across the way at Lute's Casino.

For this trip, our hotel would be the Springhill Suites, just off of Interstate 8 at the 16th Street exit. Our room would be a large, semi-suite with a living room and a separate bedroom area with a king-size bed. There is also a full-size sofabed in the living room. The bathroom is large. You have your choice of a tub and bath chair, or a roll-in shower.

We don't need a roll-in so we opt for the tub.

The $81 rate includes a full, hot breakfast. No one would mistake it for gourmet, but the eggs, sausage, toast, and waffles are good and wholesome.

Nearby is another alternative, the La Fuente Inn and Suites where the price is nearly the same, the suites are really big rooms, it's not quite as accessible (no roll-in showers), but they do offer a great hot breakfast, have a really fun happy hour each night, and a beautiful pool area.

Seven miles to the west, back in California, we start the trip by walking over the border to Mexico in Los Algodones. A medical tourism hotspot catering to snowbirds, today we're just making a fast shopping trip to get some great, cheap premium tequila and some medicines to stock up our medicine cabinet with. Letty also gets some big bottles of vanilla for cooking.

Back in Yuma, a trip to the old territorial prison is in order. At a cost of $8, it's not cheap, but what a step back in time. Walking through the sally port, you see the massive, iron reinforced adobe walls. Other parts of the prison use solid rock walls five feet thick.

Small cells with chamber pots line the corridors. Some have rings embedded into the ground to chain the prisoners in place. The dark cell, used for punishment, is indeed a scary place. An iron grid on the floor outlines the spot where the former cage was. It is imperative to watch your step in this dark room.

The entire complex, save for one cell, is accessible to wheelchairs but some parts may be bumpy.

For dinner, we go over the freeway to Lute's where we sit among the memorabilia hanging throughout the room. Dinner tonight is the Lute's special, which is a cheeseburger topped with a sliced hot dog. It's good, cheap, and kind of a gutbuster.

The sun comes up late here in the winter…Arizona does not participate in daylight savings time. At 7:15 in the morning, the first rays pop up over the eastern mountains. We have a final breakfast at the hotel before packing it up and heading back on the road.